Monthly Archives: October 2009

The US PS Blog brings word that Uncharted 2′s multiplayer demo is now offline, as the game launches in the US today.

There are still tons of Fortune Hunter Editions being given away over there. Hit the link for details.

UK gamers get the Naughty Dog sequel this Friday.

Game developer by day and PCZone writer by night, “Been There, Dan That” creator Dan Marshall has seen the seedy underbellies of both sides of the gaming industry, and he’s got a bit of wisdom to impart upon us word-spewing quill jockeys.

“I think all games journos should be forced to make a game somehow, see how they get on. It gives you a more rounded perspective,” he told Gamasutra.

“It’s really interesting, because as a developer I think you’re slightly more understanding of the process involved, but as a gamer you know whether or not you’re having a good time.”

We’d take Marshall’s advice, but, well, it’s all in the title. VG247. We never stop writing games news. Ever. No time to develop games, we’re afraid. And we’d sooner have functional social lives and sane sleep schedules than disappoint our loyal flock of readers.

The rumor is rumor no more. The final pair of Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns – known as “Hard Rain” and “Dead Center” – are real. How do we know? Because Valve told us so.

“They’re legit,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told VG247.

On top of that, the game’s Achievement list – recently rescued from a storage closet by Xbox360Achievements.org – lists the two new campaigns, along with a slew of other unannounced odds and ends. Standouts include the defibrilator, which probably brings allies back to life,  and the “bile bomb,” which both intrigues and disgusts us. In a good way.

Click through the link to see the full list for yourself.

MTV’s scooped the writer of the World of Warcraft movie: it’s Robert Rodat, the screenwriter behind Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot.

The info comes from a quote from Sam Raimi, zombie-turned-fantasy super-director:

“We want to be really faithful to the game…to the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents. I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.

“But we would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a ‘World of WarCraft’ adventure. Only obviously it’s very different ’cause it’s expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture.”

Baddaboom. The movie’s out in 2011.

The “REALLY MASSIVE” [sic] Planetside follow-up SOE’s John Smedley was rabbiting on about this morning probably isn’t called Planetside Next, according to Massively.

“We spoke to SOE and confirmed that this is an internal working title, not the official one, so we may be hearing about a new title in the future,” said the site.

Smedley said today that the sequel to SOE’s MMO shooter is to feature bonkers-huge battles and “much better organization”.

Praise be to God. No date. Thanks, The_Villa.

Following on from a show-stopping Dragon Age: Origins launch trailer earlier today, BioWare’s only gone and shown off two movies from the RPG’s day one DLC. You can watch them on Shacknews.

There are two new bits on offer for free provided you buy the game new: Warden’s Keep and Stone Prisoner.

Stone Prisoner will cost $15 for those that buy secondhand.

Hit the link.

Gearbox is offering a Borderlands four-pack on Steam for the oh-so-cheap price of £80.97 right now. That’s a saving of £9.

Life will never be better than this. Go wild, try to find three friends that believe in procedurally-created weaponary as much as you do and get busy with the Visa. Don’t do it if you really can’t find the three friends, though, unless you’re looking to redefine “tragedy” for Mr Dictionary.

It’s out on October 30.

Via Ars and Joystiq.

BioWare’s Dragon Age launch trailer is pretty much amazing. Watch is after the break. We’re not lying.

This game can’t happen soon enough. Fantasy RPG never, ever looked so good.

It’s out on November 5 for 360, November 6 for PC and November 30 for PS3.

Thanks, BigDownload.

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EyePet dev lead Nic Doucet’s told VG247 that EyePet is merely the “beginning” of a franchise, and that more games based on the IP will be released in the future.

“For us, it’s the beginning,” said the developer, speaking in a phone interview last week.

“We’re creating a franchise. We’re hoping to really rally a lot of support and have a big success.

“The intention is to build something bigger than a single game.”

The first EyePet game, which releases on October 23, features a solitary monkey pet thing which responds to your movements via the PlayStation Eye.

Doucet was answering reader questions in a Q&A sessions we’ll publish in the next few days.

Ready to play spot the difference again? GT’s posted up some direct comparison footage of the PS3 and 360 versions of Bayonetta. Get it after the break.

We’re saying nothing. Xboxes are better than PlayStations though, right?

That’s a joke.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Update - Eurogamer’s posted an excellent comparison of the two demos. Thanks, mescalineeyes.

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Outspoken developer Luc Bernard’s popped up again, this time saying paid DLC for games on the App Store can be likened to “rape”. Don’t go changing, Luc.

“We could have made the online portion of the game an in-app micro transaction but I think that would be raping the customer,” Bernard told PocketGamer, talking of his recent iPhone Mecho Wars title.

“I honestly don’t believe in paid-for DLC on the App Store. Most of the top games are 99 cents games so the average iPhone customer is obviously not willing to spend a lot of cash on games. To be honest, I would rather have a fresh new experience than loads of additional content.”

The paid DLC option was added in the latest iThing firmware release. More through there.

SCEE’s sent out nine new screens of Gran Turismo 5.

Simply put: amazing. Absolutely amazing looking.

Check them out at Ve3tro. Game was confirmed for a March release in Japan at least recently at TGS.

Sony’s announced that it is bringing Savage Moon to the PSP in Savage Moon: Hera.

The game is built specifcally for the PSP, with new stuff like 2 new allien species, 20 new impoons, plus more not found in the PS original.

Some first screens have gone live, catch them over at the EU PS Blog.

No date yet.

Nelson‘s confirmed that your Arcade offerings for this week will be Axel & Pixel and Sam & Max Season 2.

A&P will retail for 800 MS points, S&M will retail for a staggering 1600 MS points.

And thats all she wrote.

Platinum Games’ Hideki Kamiya has spoken out against former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki, stating that the Ninja Gaiden creator is an “idiot”.

“It’s a huge mistake to think like an idiot that big breasts on women seem erotic,” said Kamiya

The two have been squabbling away at each other for a good couple of months now.

Kamiya also randomly revealed he wasn’t gay.

“I am bald, but I am not gay.”

Riiight. Find more info over at D’Toid.

Well, isn’t this a surprise.

Microsoft has removed all trace of the November 17 date that was on the Xbox website over the weekend for Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm.

The website now just lists autumn 2009 for the update.

We’ll email Microsoft about this for comment.

Oh, by the way, before we forget: we’re on Twitter in case you didnt know.

TheSixthAxis has obtained exclusive shots of Just Add Water’s Gravity Crash.

They look fucking swish, one to buy when it is released.

When is that? We dont quite know yet, but it’ll be out soon for the PS3.

Catch the screens at the link.

Nelson‘s announced that this week’s Live Deal of the Week is Hasbro Family Game Night.

Once 800 MS points, Battleship, Connect 4, Scrabble, Yahtzee, Boggle and Sorry Sliders will retail for 400 MS points for this week.

Queue it here.

Remember: Gold members only.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said in the latest episode of Bonus Round that there will be a 250Gb Xbox 360 on sale as standard “someday”, while also insisting that Microsoft can cut the price of the 360 whenever they want.

This come as Microsoft recently cut the price of the console down to £199/$299 for the Elite, while phasing out the Pro model. MS also recently announced two special 250Gb bundles to celebrate the release of Modern Warfare 2 and Forza Motorsport 3.

But Pachter insists they will bring down the price in the Elite to $249 in January/February.

“They are going to have a 250 gig box. That’s the point. They didn’t buy 5,000 of these as a test. There’s going to be a 250 gig 360 some day,” said Pachter.

“So I actually think you’re going to see the 120 gig get priced at $249 whenever they feel like it, which might be January, February, it’s going to happen.”

Catch the full episode through here. From the Exaimner.

Thanks, Roybott.

Warner Bros has just sent out the full tracklist for Lego: Rock Band.

It contains Blur, Pink, David Bowie, Ray Parker Jr, KT Tunstall, Kaiser Chiefs and more.

As well as the tracklist, it was also confirmed that Rock Band DLC will be fully compatable with L:RB fom release, as will be exporting tracks from L:RB over to the main Rock Band.

Read the PR, after the break.

It’s out this holiday for PS3, 360, Wii and DS.

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